RED RUSSIA.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 November 1924, Page 4

RED RUSSIA.

THE liOLSI lEYLKS ARRIVE. . Seven years ago this month in Retrograd the Bolsheviks seized the power from the feeble Provisional Government headed h,v Alexander Kerensky. Rarely lias a revolution been accomplished with .such ridiculous case. The soldiers and •workmen attacked, and a tragically small detachment, consisting ol ollioors, cadets, and the Women's Battalion, defended. The lighting was brief, tln* women making the best stand, and a lew .shells - a wliilf of gra| c-sliot directed at the Winter Ralti 1 e from the rebel < miser Aurora, anchored in the Neva, closed the cinnuiitcr. 'I he l.ciiin-'l rotsky regime was lie-

•Mi a-ow. the ancient capital, did m capitulate si readily, and yet. at

glance, it would have a| pea roil an easie matter far the Reds to (secure eontri there. “Uprising in IVtrogrnd.” eric the new lioys as limy ran rapjle al.m tile streets ol Mo- ow on (I',, nil,.| neon i ! Wednesday. .\ovcmher 7. Tu

.'-'.iris bought papers, scanned the seal, head lines ami laughed merrily. A mii li'it of sensation had induced a loinlition of apathy in the bourgeois citizens. and the news of the Retrograd adventure was of more .significance to tin teeming multitudes in the workmen’s quarters, and there orators and organis. ers were soon busily occupied in translating mental excitement into phvsiea activity.

.I’RKLIMTXARTEM. The non-appearance of the so-called “bourgeois" newspapers on Thursday morning, the issue to the garrison of proclamations ordering that in future the soldiers were only to obey < otnmamls given liv the War Revolutionary Committee of the Soldiers’ and Workers’ Council, and the occupation of the Rost Ofliee and other public buildings by Bolshevik troops were portents of the coming storm. Retaliatory measures were the announcement by the Town Council of the formation of a Cbmmittee of Public Safety, ami a

summons to all democratic forces t, unite against the Bolsheviks. Moderates hastily .scuttled from the workers’ organisations, and by Friday afternoon the city was in a very excited state. REVOLT.

t Early on Saturday morning I was s awakened by the sound of gun and rifle _ lire. IViieenblo efforts made hv the columntidiint of the Moscow garrison . to induce a Bulshovi.sed regiment to leave the Kremlin having failed, n . company of officers and cadets had been i ordered to seize the entrances and thus besiege the recalcitrants There were . resistance ami bloodshed. An attempt to reach the centre of the city from my nearby suburb failed; a post of officers and cadets bailed my passage. There was much military activity; innI ter lorries hearing mixed detachments of officers and students holding rides with fixed bayonets at the ready, and resembling so many fretful porcupines dashed about. The passage of these lorries and the occasional discharge of rifles caused the crowds of apprehensive ‘ yet intensely interested citizens to scatter ‘wildly. Officers urged them to go home, saving that martial law had been proclaimed. A hasty survey showed that cannon and machine guns had been placed at vantage points along tho boulevards, and that in general the stage was set for a struggle. The people gradually retired to their homes, and by sundown the streets, except for the combata,iits wore practically do sorted.

1 ISOLATION’. By what afterwards appeared great 1 good fortune, in that it added to my experience, but which at the time did not seem to he a merciful disposition of Providence, my lodging was located in a quarter of the city where some of the heaviest lighting took place. Of the great area covered by the city of two million inhabitants only a comparatively small sector constituted the battleground otf the revolution. The important military points were the Kremlin and the general staff quarters, and, with an entire lack of foresight, I had gone to reside in the proximity of the latter, which, of course, was .in the hands of the anti-Bolsheviks. The general staff building was the apex of a triangle, having main arteries at sides, and a wide boulevard at its base, and from a window in a block of flats lying in a lane inside the triangle running parallel to the boulevard I witnessed the gradual triumph of a deluded proletariat. All the fighting in that sector took place on the streets, constituting the sides of the triangle, Bolsheviks and I anti-Boslieviks faced each other from I trenches and barricades dug out of and I

thrown across those streets. To leave the triangle involved great risk to one’s life—a fact I discovered early in the campaign. To stay at home was best. STRUGGLE.

Awakened by a sharp volley early on Sunday morning, I hastened to my window in time to see a forward movement in the direction of the General Staff executed by armed workmen. On halting they maintained a steady lire down the street from a point where the thoroughfare took a dog’s leg bond. Wounded, and apparently, dead combatants were carried to a white house within my view. There was desultory firing throughout the day. Church hells the tintinnabulation of a multitude of small hells punctuated with the deep boom, boom of larger hells, summoned the faithful to prayoi 1 , ‘ but few obeyed. That evening the street lamps were not lit. The immediate military position showed no great variation for several days. Bille fire was maintained intermittently on the streets, and at intervals shells screamed overhead on their way to the General Staff. But the temper of the attackers changed. Once or twice T had descended to the street to poet) round the corner at the trench fighting. Groups of non-cotn-liatant soldiers, wounded in the war. and idle workers conversed under cover. and at first were sociable enough. They showed no resentment at the presence of an undoubted “lumrjtii” (one of the bourgeoisie)—T wore a collar and tie—-and they said, pessimistically, that the Tsar had betrayed tliem. tlie Provisional Government had betrayed them. Rumours of provocation, ol tlie “iMiorjni” firing upon the workers from windows and roofs, induced it change in their attitude. Threats and rudeness took the place ol toleration towards the better-dressed non-combat-ants. It was with no great feelings ol pleasure that 1 realised that f was in the middle of Russia, and likely to be amongst the victims of a threatened St Bartholomew’s night.

INCIDENTS. On the Wednesday, whilst enjoying the usual peep at the war from the corner, a bullet- struck the pavement near some soldiers. ’I hey became somewhat agitated, and began to talk in ttugrv tones. Rensant girls dashed out „r a baker’s shop, and cried, “The boorjni are firing on us.” whereupon the soldiers turned their rilles and their eyes menacingly upon my companion and me. the only “hoorjitis” in sight. They moved towards us. and wo felt impelled to execute a slow movement lo the rear, and when opposite outhouse made a dash lor the door. Thereafter wo generally observed operations from the windows. One night the electric light suddenly failed, ami was restored as suddenly. “Boorjui provocation” evidently, and bullets rattled against the house, and smashed some windows. A dwelling nearby incurred somebody’s displeasure on another occasion, and showers of bullets made white dust fly Iron) its walls in clouds. A conflagration in the Arhat quarter raged for two days and nights, and reminded one of a round. ".Moscow’s burning.” sung at school in latawav Ncn Zealand, so distant, and for the moment so dear. Portion of our flat, was used as a hospital for o(fleers wounded in the war. Threats ol massacre were continually levelled against these men by tlie soldiers, and tlie warworn and nerve-wracked officers were greatly harassed therebv. hut music, as ever a solace, invariably restored calm to troubled breasts. I have rarely enjoyed anything musical so much as the rendering of Mussorgsky's “Spanish Dance”' by an officer pianist. A thing that gripped with the horror o( it was the story of flic brutal murder of an old colonel by soldiers, told, when I visited thi' street corner one morning, with immense gusto, by a ten-.vear-old liny fresh from the scene ol the exploit. a block or two to our rear. ’I lie colonel was knocked down, bayonet led repeatedly, ami then stripped naked by bis slayers. “|| ( , |,.„| ~ sills shirt and lacquered boots.” the child explained.

. BOREDOM. It was impossible even in the midst of a revolution to remain keyed to a high pitch of excitement for a week, and after a few days ennui took possession of some of ns. I mler date of Wednesday 1 find an entrv in a rough diary kept at the time—“ Beginning to get linred with it all.” Tlie days went liy slowly, and even apprehension as to tile ultimate outcome ol the struggle did not always weigh heavily upon our minds. I l end two liooks. I 01-lov s "RcMirreelion." in the original, and I’linees* I’ris,-ilia's " gelt night." M v dia rv describes the latter as "very amusing.” which is the last, thing one could sav about Tolstoy’s novel, so I blended the grave uilli the gay. My hosts, hearers of a famous name, fortunately had ample supplies of food in the flat, so we had no cause lor alarm in tlmt regard. TIM UM I’ll.

Vriilsiy. .Vovoinhor snw llit* olid lII' till- iif'lllillK- “I'l'lKf IlilS hl'l'll ill!-i-lnivil, tin- liimrjui lisiro siiiTi'iulnoil,” s:\iil tlio lin 11 iinrti'i’s wifr. when I ro-iiinrki-il mi tin- 1111ii*tnfss tlmt I.aikinn ii-iiifiii-i-cmoiits mill i|iiiU> worn out tin- smti-Holslipviks hull lioon forml to (oiiclikli' si truco wholly lavouralik 1 to tlio vii-tors.